KMPickard

Check out "Olives and Gourmando" in the old city. It's a madhouse but somehow it works. Two tough New Yorkers got so flustered trying to "get" how it works that they left in a huff last time we were there. Fantastic fruit salad in winter--cute lychee's and such--Yumm.

This past summer while visiting Stratford for some Shakespeare, we has a very nice Daniel Lenko Reisling at Bijou Restaurant. So this dreary March morning, we decided to take a drive down to the winery and pick some up. It's about an hour's drive from our home here on Lake Erie. You motor up to the modest house to find a friendly dog spread out on the welcome mat by the door. Upon opening the door, we found ourselves right in the kitchen. Helen Lenko, the matriarch of the Lenko clan extended a very warm greeting. She was making cookies at the oven, a few feet away from the door. Well, nothing would do but that we had to taste the peanut butter cookies warm from the stove. Yumm... Helen is proud of her kids. We're introduced to her son, "the president of the company". Daniel sits us down at the kitchen table, with some locally made polish sausage, cheese and crackers. The kielbosa is excellent. Then we begin tasting and chatting about the wines. The Reisling and Gewertz we really wanted are sold out, but the current Reisling vintage will be ready for sale in about 6 weeks. Given our e-mail, he assures us that we'll get word when the wine is ready for market. Meanwhile, we taste the Chardonnay, a Merlot-Cab blend, Zweigelt, Cabernet Franc and the Select Late Harvest Vidal. We really liked the 2000 Late Harvest and the Cabernet Franc and purchased a few bottles. Business is transacted right there at the kitchen table. As we get ready to leave, Helen makes sure we have the recipe for her cookies. She also welcomes us to take home a few back issues of local wine publications that are piled nearby. Her daughter has just come in from running a 20 km marathon that morning and is introduced. On our way out the door, Helen grabs a jar of her home made Apricot jam and insists that we take it with us--"please bring back the empty jar when you're back in the neighbourhood". Needless to say, she's charmed the hell out of us. Don't worry, we'll be back, and soon. By the way, the apricot jam was terrific! Innocente

I suspect that Chaput's " limited" selection and service style is what made the experience such a good one for us, Lesley. We weren't overwhelmed by choice ,as we were at Hamel, and the staff were prepared and happy to educate us cheese-deprived anglos. I don't know how many cheeses they had in stock that day, but even if it was only twenty then that's twenty more finely-aged raw milk cheeses than we have available to us in rural Southern Ontario at any time. Lucky you, to have such scope for exploration. K.

I have to say that we've never had a more civilized cheese shopping experience than we had this weekend at Frommagerie Chaput on Bernard O. in Montreal. For those of you who haven't had the opportunity to try the store it's more like shopping for fine jewellry than cheese. The story is comtemporary in design - blond wood etc. The cheese are kept in temperature controlled glass fronted cabinets that are anything but industrial in appearance. On arrival you are seated at a counter and recieve what amounts to a cheese consultation. They carry raw milk French (and Quebec?)cheeses only.Enquiries were made as to our preferences - to which we added the limitations placed upon us by travel. After sampling several cheeses we arrived at four that we both enjoyed and would endure the trip home. All I can say is that if I lived in Montreal it would be an all too regular stop. K. PS: Next door is a charming tea shop called "un Amour des Thes" from which one will be able to order fine teas over the internet in a couple of weeks.

Bon Soir- We're just back from Montreal's snow and ice extravaganza. We too were at the Daniel Patterson dinner at Anise on Thursday night (the middle-aged couple in the front window) - and to match you overworked word for overworked word, Lesley, ... it was sublime. The space, the staff, the wine and the food provided us with one of our finest dining experiences ever. Since you've already posted the menu, Lesley, I just say a few words about the other attributes. The restaurant, on two levels, is spare and sophisticated but not lacking in warmth. The walls, richly cream, are washed in indirect light. The chairs and banquettes are upholstered in lipstick red. It provides a marvellously flattering setting for its' mostly black-clad patrons. The staff was thoroughly professional (and just as cute as Rosalie's). They provided us with all the information we could want on the food and the wine with knowledge and enthusiasm. We were particularly charmed by their efforts given our lack of French. The wine flight provided seemed to us to be of very good quality compared to other tasting menus that we've experienced. The pours were generous (they filled our glasses with champagne three times) and the choices complemented the food very well indeed. My only reservation was with the Mondavi Fumee Blanc which is, I believe, lightly oaked. I would have preferred a sharper NZ SB with the goat cheese - but this is a beginner speaking The composition of the menu had an arc that was both exciting to the senses and satisfying to the intellect. Each course seemed to progress logically from the previous. Contrast, whether in flavour or texture, was provided just before you realized it would be welcome. Masterful. I particularly liked the chef's riffs on a theme - three goat cheeses, four desserts on the same base (what was your professional opinion on these, Lesley). I'm only sorry to hear that the experience was not a happy one for the restaurant. All I can say is that they handled the situation with aplomb. Not a bit of tension was evident at the front of house. The only problem with a dining experience like this is that it raises the bar so high. But, given that our next night was at Le Passe-Partout, we staved off disppointment. When I have the time I'll post comments on it too. Cheers, Kathy

The Feb 2003 issue of Cook's Illustrated has a recipie for "Real" Boston Baked Beans that sounds delicious. I plan on trying it out this weekend and will report back then. K.

Would one of you Montrealers be kind enough to post the hours of opening of Rosalie? Thanks, K.

Patrice, congratulations on your upcoming opening. Alas, it will be after our February visit - but that just means we have one more reason to visit Montreal in a warmer season. Best of luck, K.

In Steingarten's new collection called "It must've been something I ate", he holds forth on coq au vin. According to him, this dish must be made with a Rooster, and, of course with Rooster blood. No problem--he mentions a supplier in Brooklyn.

GordonCooks - I'm hard pressed to name our favorite TO restaurant because we don't dine there often in spite of living 2 hours or so from the city (depending on traffic of course). The peculiarities of our life dictate that our eating adventures happen largely when we're on vacation. Hence, I can tell you that I really like Annisa and Gramercy Tavern and really don't like DB Moderne. The one Toronto restaurant that we repeatedly frequent is Lai Wah Heen and it has never failed us. K.

Long - just a warning. Last Saturday my "innocent" spouse and I had a joint birthday celebration at Susur and, as he mentioned above, the experience was not totally satisfactory. This has taken a lot of thinking, folks. Balance is the aim. There were many good things. The dining room is ultra cool - minimalist white with a few touches of kitsch to spice things up. A fifties silver aluminum tree (remember those?) spoke of the season. The restaurant has two covers for the evening and, for some now obscure reason, I booked us for the early seating. That, in retrospect, was a big mistake. To say the service was brisk is to slightly understate the situation. We arrived on the dot of 6:00 and were reminded upon being seated that we had to vacate the table by 8:30. ( We know, we know) Our waitress seemed in an unrelieved state of anxiety that we do so - she was tense and really didn't crack a smile all evening. She was in such a hurry that often the next course's cutlery would arrive before our last plates had been cleared. We had hoped for the seven course tasting menu but were told, alas, that only the three and five course menus were available. Expressing our interest in the food I asked our waitress if there was any printed menu of the evening's offerings but she said ,no, that the person delivering the food would inform us in that regard. As has been mentioned previously,Susur Lee starts his tasting menu with the "heavier" courses and proceeds to the lighter. It should also be noted that we were each served different courses. We elected to start our celebration with a glass of champagne - Louis Roederer - and to have the "tasting" size of the wines that the chef selected to accompany each course. Once the food started to arrive I understood why there was no printed material - it would have taken pages and pages to describe the offerings. I've never been served so many IDEAS in one evening. Each course arrived in pristine white china that varied in shape. The presentations were really beautiful - small pieces of art. This is very intellectual food. Perhaps more intellectual that sensual. But here is where things got to be difficult if you were really interested in what you were being served. The runner ( is that the right term?) would very rapidly describe the course and then, well, run. The items presented were so varied and so numerous that sometimes we really never did catch the entire description. Our best intentions on note taking were foiled. To the best of my knowledge we were served:- 1/ Amuse - Me - a tofu custard topped with herbs and garnished with tomato concassis. A bit subtle for me - the word "bland" springs to mind. L.- a nice and refreshing gazpacho of ?- a good palate cleanser. 2/ Me- roast veal loin topped with a shrimp mousse - accompanied by three sauces, one of which was black olive, and two small stacks of three or four tiny perfect vegetables. The veal, although rosy looking, was pretty cool and pretty tough. It didn't relate to it's shrimp topping in any meaningful way. I was unable to identify several of the vegetables. L.- stuffed Cornish hen with seasonal vegetables. This was the more successful of these two courses. Nice crispy skin and very moist flesh. 3/ Me- seared foie gras atop a roasted pear along with a portobello mushroom mousse(?) with a black truffle reduction. My foie gras was nicely crisp on the exterior but didn't have the contrasting cloud-like interior that I'd hoped for. There was something else on the plate too but I can't remember what. L.- This was the winner dish of the evening. 5 mini preparations presented on an oblong white pedestaled plate. There was a riesling gelee, a tongue preparation, a torchon of foie gras topped with some candied pistachio, a mini cannoli filled with a creamy foie gras and best of all, a piece of seared foie gras atop a tiny toasted cinnamon bun. The last was utter genius in terms of flavour and texture. 4/ Me- cured boca negra (sp?), a mediterranean fish, atop a small celery root flavoured pancake with a creme fraiche topping. One cold seared scallop served with a goat cheese quenell and garnished with (I think) a dried mini squid - although I could swear the server said something about a giant squid leg! L.- A boca negra fillet - lightly fried, I think, with a medley of vegetables. 5/ Me - Steamed lobster L.- a scallop, a prawn and something else in a tomato based sauce Can you tell I'm really losing my way here? The evening prior we had seen the opera "The Turn of the Screw" (this is relevant I promise). Since the opera is performed in English we expected to understand the libretto and subtitles, of course, weren't offered. Both of us laughed because we actually found the singing in English to be more frustrating than any German or Italian opera. Instead of listening to the music we were straining to understand the words. Only when we stopped trying to understand what was being said could we hear the music being sung. I think if we hadn't been as interested in the food as much as we were, we wouldn't have experienced the same level of frustration at not being fully informed about it. We haven't done enough eating at this level to not want to be educated along with our pleasure The same lack of information was evident in the wine service too. We were given scant, generic information. No bottle was presented, no vintage given. As stated in another thread, even after several questions I never did find out the producer of that lovely Banyuls. Even more annoying to me was the the wines were served in "mini" glasses rather than the full sized Riedel's used otherwise. Granted, it did make the pours look more generous, but it did nothing to enhance the characteristics of the wine. There were a lot of respectable Ontario wines used, from Cave Springs, Malivoire, and Peninsula Ridge. As well there was a Gruner, a tokay, and the previously mentioned Banyuls. The wine service was in utter contrast to that at Gramercy Tavern where we had matched wines to the summer tasting menu. There the waiter, when he realized we were interested, went out of his way to display and explain his selections. Okay, on to desserts. In some ways this was the best course of the evening. There was more than one bite of three desserts on each plate. They consisted of , me, a chocolate tart, a white chocolate hazelnut mousse with chocolate cookie crumbs and a lychee/blackberry sorbet. For L. it was an "oozing" chocolate cake (and yes it did) a heavenly lemon tart and a forgettable fruit sorbet. On completing dessert the question was "did we want anything else?'. A loaded question - but we demurely said "coffee, please". We are Canadian after all. No mignardaise's were offered. Hmm - that might take another 5 minutes. L. astutely asked the waitress as the meal was drawing to a close if the seven course tasting was available at the second seating. The answer was yes it was- but there was no time to serve it to the first seating. We at least had the pleasure of hearing what the two courses we missed were. Would we go back? Never on a Saturday. Not unless someone else was treating. There's always next year..... K.

Thanks Steve Klc - I've recently subscribed to the Art of Eating and I'll do just what you suggest. K.

Well, we had our meal at Sen5es last Thursday and a very fine meal it was. The room is on the second floor with large windows facing onto Bloor street. Simple understated decor in creams, greys and blacks enlivened by some colourful abstract paintings. Sophisticated but not frigid. Nor was the staff frigid. They were, well, very Danny Meyerish. A warm welcome with eye contact and a genuine smile. Nice. We decided to order from the menu and accompanied our choices with an Alsation riesling - Zinck, I think. My app was seared scallops on a bed of citrus with galangal. I was served three perfect scallops, with a crisp brown crust and still slightly rare in the centre. They were cooked as well as any I've ever been served in a restaurant. Under them were a variety of citrus sections topped with a scattering of crispy shallot rings The saucing was very Thai with hot pepper and galangal. A very pleasing dish overall. My friend had a broth of squab. This was served over squab confit and had sliced green scallions in it. I didn't get to taste this but he was most satisfied saying the broth was very concentrated in flavour and had an unexpected peppery finish. I next had loin of lamb served with ratatouille, sweet potatoes and black lentil jus. The lamb was a very generous portion- juicy, tender and lots of flavour. The black lentil jus packed a real punch. I'm not sure of the seasonings but I'd love to be able to duplicate this. The ratatouille was surprisingly light and fresh. To me, the sweet potatoes seemed a bit superfluous on the plate - not that I left any behind. My friend had lightly smoked black cod on a bed of vegetables. Again, he was very happy with his meal. We shared a dessert of a chocolate caramel tart with black tea ice cream and sabayon. The tart was suitably decadent and I particularly liked the runny caramel which was not overly sweet. Only the black tea ice cream disappointed, being neither particularly creamy nor tea-y. The stilton tart was not on offer or I wouldn't have been able to resist that. Overall this is a restaurant that doesn't seem afraid to use strong flavours. Both my dishes elicited wow's and I can't ask for more than that. Next time it will be the tasting menu.

At the end of a lush tasting menu last weekend ( at Susur's in Toronto -more on that later) I was served a Banyuls that was heaven. It smelt of burnt sugar and was smooth and round in the mouth - not in the least overly sweet or cloying. And, yes, one of the several desserts was chocolate. I was able to pry out of the server that it was a 1995 but she never did tell me the producer. I've never encountered this wine before as I usually avoid dessert wines. I don't even care much for icewine which is heresey for a Southern Ontario resident. Can someone tell me more about this wine. Does an open bottle keep like port or should it be consumed as a regular wine? Any preferred producers? And what does it pair well with aside from chocolate? Thanks, K.

Steel cut or Irish oats are a wonderful weekend treat. I use the Cook's Illustrated method which calls for toasting the oats (1 cup) briefly in a tsp of melted butter before stirring them into a mixture of simmering water and milk (3 cups water, 1 cup milk). They then simmer, uncovered and unstirred for twenty minutes. At that point add salt to taste and , in my case, dried cherries and toasted almond slivers. Stir occasionally for another 10 minutes. Then remove from heat, cover pot with a folded tea towel under the lid, and let stand for 5 minutes. Top with a bit of brown sugar and milk and mmmm... K. PS. I tried the overnight slow cooker method and did not like it a bit.

Thanks NightScotsman - I guess I wasn't specific enough. It's the Toronto Sen5es we'll be eating at. But as a matter of fact, we'll be staying at the Metropolitan in TO and plan to have a meal at Lai Wah Heen too. K

A friend and I will be dining at Sen5es next week. Are there any not-to-miss dishes? Thanks, K.

Please make sure to post details when you open, Patrice. We'll be sure to reserve a table. K.

When opera-going we've eaten at, and enjoyed, a Turkish restaurant called Pasha in the 70's. Just a short cab ride. Shun Lee West is another of our choices. The dim sum is quick and doesn't lead to snoozing in the second act. I'd save Picholine for an occasion when there's time to enjoy it. When we ate at Compass this summer the service was nothing less than abominable. If they've remedied that I'd go just for the scallion biscuits. K.

Thanks to those who provided the link for the fresh ginger cake. I tried it on the weekend and it's a winner. Wonderful texture and better flavour. Next time I think I'll add some grated orange zest and pour an orange flavoured glaze atop. K.

OK Lesley - I've booked our trip based on the musical events - I was afraid to wait until the food events were announced in case the tickets would be gone. We'll be there Feb 22-26. Any hints on what might be happening foodwise at that time? K. And, Patrice, will your resto be open by then?

I'll add my vote to the cordless kettle contingent. I've boiled my stovetop kettles dry all too often when I get engrossed in something....eGullet for instance. I owned an earlier version of the Michael Graves kettle and hated it in spite of its' high style. The whistle was loose and kept getting lost when the cat stole it for a toy. When it was there I'd scald myself removing from the kettle. The kettle also had a disconcerting (and dangerous) habit of erupting from the spout if I happened to slightly overfill it. I'm happier - and safer- with a cordless. K.

The cover kitchen on Fine Homebuilding's just released Kitchen and Bath issue is a stunner. If I had more than marginal computer skills I'd provide the link - however, you can find it on Taunton Press's website and even take a 3D tour. K.

Alton Brown's overnight oatmeal doesn't differ substantially from the method I used - with the exception that he uses a LOT more dried fruit than I did. ( I prefer dried cherries and toasted almonds,and think half a cup of each is being extravagant) I think the thing is that I've always hated gluey oatmeal and the overnight cooking turns the grain into a uniform paste. The texture of the CI method is much more palatable to me. There are still individual grains that have a bit of spring against the tooth. K.

Well, after our last discussion I went out and got a 5 quart slow cooker - Hamilton Beach if that matters. As we had a lot of yard work to accomplish today ( and I still haven't planted my daffs) I threw some chopped onions and a browned pork loin roast into the cooker and covered it with two bottles of the Herdez salsa verde. Voila - dinner was ready when we came in. Delicious tender pork and a surprisingly complex savoury sauce. With it I served just-wilted spinach sprinkled with lemon juice and a cauliflower, onion and garlic puree. All in all, very gratifying. Now the bad part. I also recently tried to do steel cut oats overnight as suggested in the Crock Pot thread. Yeecchh. Unless, of course, one thinks of oatmeal being just right when it's mucilage. Back to my time-consuming, but delectable, method from Cook's Illustrated a couple of years back. Porridge will just have to remain a weekend treat. K.